we re still getting gusts to, to 65 miles an hour. the fact that this storm is moving so slowly would seem number-one concern, as you said, the amount of rainfall, the estimates we are hearing, 10 to 20 inches, what could that potentially mean for the city? one of the real concerns is making sure the pump stations continue to work. and the pump stations have all gotten backup power supplies in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. so that so far seems to be working. what is still being looked at closely in terms of waking up wednesday morning? we re looking at increases in wind speed as the storm continues to move inland and closer to new orleans. at this point it looks like the storm protection system is holding and doing its job? this is a significant surge event we are looking at. 10, 12 feet of surge in some places. but the new levee system is high enough especially on the eastern side of the river, where
kilometers to vak wait. it would blow most radioactivity out to sea and could blow it over to the west coast of the united states. are there international resources that could be brought to bear on this that would make a difference, or is japan as good as anyone at dealing with this technology? japan is very good. these reactors are generally considered in japan in the state of the art. these are particularly old designs, but they have relatively high construction standards for their reactors. iaea can be brought in to help on this, and in the case of airlift, which is what the president was talking about, the united states could help lift things like generators, backup power supplies. this should be an all hands on deck exercise. as bad as the natural disaster was today and still is today in japan, this could be a technological could tas trof ee.